An estimated 2.2 billion smartphones and tablets will be sold to consumers worldwide in 2014 alone, and security will continue to be a major problem, according to Gartner. The research firm predicts 75 percent of mobile security breaches by 2017 will be caused by mobile application misconfiguration. The threat of mobile malware is a constant headache for IT staff, especially when jailbroken devices are introduced on corporate networks.

" Mobile security breaches are - and will continue to be - the result of misconfiguration and misuse on an app level, rather than the outcome of deeply technical attacks on mobile devices," said Dionisio Zumerle, Gartner principal analyst. " A classic example of misconfiguration is the misuse of personal cloud services through apps residing on smartphones and tablets. When used to convey enterprise data, these apps lead to data leaks that the organization remains unaware of for the majority of devices."

IT security specialists should make use of mobile device management (MDM) solutions, coupled with appropriate app shielding and anti-malware solutions to keep corporate devices more secure. Making sure smartphones and tablets are secure with a password, at the very least, can help keep devices secure from anyone snooping.